


I will protect you [PERMANENT HIATUS]

by KittyDragonLove



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: But for now ill leave it at this, Gen, Im not sorry for writing, M/M, Sibling Relationship, Sorry Not Sorry, There will be pictures on my tumblr eventually, Tumblr is same as this btw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 18:45:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9561962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittyDragonLove/pseuds/KittyDragonLove
Summary: It was supposed to be a routine mission. Infiltrate the ship, rescue an important prisoner, destroy some Galra on the way out. This wouldn't be the case this time, the team realizes.OrKeith gains a new friend.





	1. Mishap

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boy! My first time writing something for a fandom, what could be better?
> 
> Yes I made my own OC for this, no I am not okay, and yes I do love Keith.
> 
> I finished the second season recently and by God I am obsessed, so my apologies for writing this.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keith makes a decision.

Coran sends a signal through the castle, waking all of the Paladins from their sleep. Shiro is the first out, followed by Keith, Hunk, Pidge, and obviously the last one, Lance. Shiro looks at Coran and Allura, his face stern.

"What is it, princess?" Shiro questions. Allura opens the giant hologram map and spins it, stopping on some coordinates.

"We have detected a Galra ship near this planet and a distress beacon has been shining for quite some time now." She spins and turns towards the rest of the Paladins, her white hair glittering as she had not put it all up just yet.

"Alright, so what's the plan?" Keith asks. He was standing next to Shiro now, looking at the planet's coordinates.  
Shiro stares at the spot and then turns to the rest of them. "Guess it's time to go do what we do best. Save the planet, free any prisoners, defeat the Galra." Keith and everyone else nod in agreement.

Keith had a strange feeling about this next mission. It seemed too obvious, too easy, he thought. Why were they so far out in the open? Surely they knew Voltron was going to come after them.

Unless that's what they intended all along and this was some sort of trap. Keith keeps his guard up as he always does, even more so this time around.

The plan was that Keith and Shiro sneak on board the ship since both of them can interact with the tech. Pidge, Hunk, and Lance were tasked with destroying anything and everything Galra on the planet, protecting the enslaved people along the way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keith and Shiro snuck under the ship, their Lions sticking down by an opening below. Keith goes in first to scout the area within, and when the coast is clear, he jetpacks in to land on a side part, within a railing. Shiro follows and then leads Keith through the ship. It was easy to use the twists and turns to their advantage since each ship was built nearly the same way and Shiro can recognize any of these ships anywhere.

"Keith, you go that way, I'll catch up with you. I'll distract the Galra while you free some of the prisoners on board."

Keith nods. "Be careful, Shiro."

"I will." He says with a gentle smirk. Keith smirks back and Shiro puts a hand on his shoulder. Keith nods and heads in the northern direction Shiro had pointed. In the hallway, he could point out multiple cells, but one cell seemed...peculiar compared to the others. He put his hand on each lock to the cell and they opened, the prisoners staying in them for the time being. He went to the strange cell and opened it and saw something very, very small.

In the corner of the cell was a cowering Galra, her tail curled around her as she trembles. She was wearing what looked to be the blue version of the normal prisoner outfit, and her hair was very, very long and matted. She also had odd markings on her face, as if she-

No more time, he needed to get these prisoners out of here and safe. He pulled out his Bayard and held it out in front of him, motioning to the small Galra to come towards him. She slowly started to stand up, stumbling on little legs that she didn't seem too used to using, and grabs his hand. Her tail waves as they rush out while the prisoners from the planet nearby rush on with them. Keith activates his communications.

"Shiro! I have the prisoners but something's off! Hurry to the lions!" Keith rushes out, battering the guards and slicing them up with every movement.

"Alright! Lance, Hunk, Pidge, progress on releasing the enslaved?"

Lance is the first to respond. "We got this! It wasn't as hard as we thought, there's not much here. Yellow was able to knock everything down no problemo."

Pidge nods and replies. "Yeah, all of the slaves have been freed from Zarkon and we brought everything down. I managed to salvage some parts so we can see how he's managing this."

Shiro nods. "Alright. Let's get out of here, Keith."

Keith nods. "Okay."

Keith rushes out of the prisoner section of the ship, headed in the direction where Shiro is. The small Galra trails behind him, her face quickly being taken by tears. These were the Paladins of Voltron she had heard so much about. She was so, so happy to be getting out of this place, but she was also scared because she was Galra. She started scratching at her face with her other hand, angry at her heritage. She would have to leave explaining for later when they get back to...wherever the Paladins live.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When they got back to the Castle of the Lions, Allura greeted them as they filed in.

"How did the mission go?" She inquires.

"Just as well as any of our previous missions. Slight hiccups now and again but we successfully finished the mission and everyone was saved." Shiro explains.

She nods, smiling. "I'm glad it went as well as I had hoped." She looked around, puzzled. "Where's Keith?"

Shiro looks back towards Red. "Still in his Lion. He said he had something to show all of us so we may need to be cautious, none of us know what he has."

Lance pouts. "He better not have something cooler than me."

Shiro and Pidge glare at him, and Shiro looks back at the Lion. "I guess we should head over." Shiro then leads the Paladins, Allura, and Coran to Red.

The first thing they start hearing is soft crying coming from the cockpit. Red lets everyone climb in and they see Keith, kneeling down in front of what looks to be a small child. Keith is talking to her gently, saying things like "We'll keep you safe", "I'll protect you", and "They won't find you here". Shiro carefully walks over and places his hand on Keith's shoulder. He sighs and stands up, turning to face the others.

"I, um..." Keith rubs his head and takes a breath.

"I may have brought a Galra child on board."


	2. Stories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we learn more about the child.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! I'm happy you guys actually like this! Cuz like, this is my first fanfic??? And I was afraid of being a bad writer??? Anyways, thank you! Give me any suggestions on what you wanna see in future chapters! :D

"You what?!" Lance yelled, shocked.

"I couldn't leave her there! She was scared, and she was in a cell! Do you think she was treated well there?!" Keith retorted, anger boiling up in his body. The small Galra child tugged at his suit and her tail waves. A sniffle is heard and she steps in front of him, still rather wobbly.

"I-I'm sorry i-if I cause trouble, I d-didn't mean to. M-Momma always told me it was useless to....to h-hope for you guys." She looks up at them with wide golden eyes, still filled with tears. "But I still did and I'm s-so happy you're real! That's why I was in the cell, I w-was the one who turned the distress beacon on when Momma l-looked away. I got in trouble and Momma p-punished me."

Lance and Hunk both knelt down to look at her, causing her to jump a little. Pidge smiles gently at the small child and shakes her head.

"You didn't cause trouble, kid, you're okay here. We're glad we could get here when we did, it was thanks to you that, not only did we save you, we were able to free that planet." She turned to look at Allura and Coran, who both just looked at the child in disbelief.

"Her...her face." Allura muttered.

"The markings..." Coran whispered as well.

Pidge looks at them confused, and turns back to the child. She looks closely at her and her eyes widen.

"Hey, those look like Altean markings under her eyes." Pidge realizes.

Everyone starts to get closer to look at the child, but she starts shaking and hides behind Keith again. Everyone backs up a bit and Lance chuckles softly.

"Sorry kiddo, we didn't mean to scare you. We were just wondering...why do you have those markings?"

The child grips onto Keith tighter and he places a hand on her head as her ears twitch just a bit. Keith looks at everyone and sighs.

"She just got freed and you're hounding her already. Give her a few days to settle into the surroundings." Everyone nods and they all exit Red. The Galra child clings tightly and closely to Keith, her tail swishing slightly with each of her steps. She started to get used to walking around, but she wasn't sure if she was still too safe. She noticed the looks on the two Alteans; they looked very scared. Too scared of a child, she thought. She felt ashamed for who she was again, but she looked up at Keith as they kept walking to where she assumed would be his room, and she smiled a little, remembering the other Paladins' sincere faces. She realized the only one who didn't really react was the one with the white bit of hair and the scar over his nose. She heard the name Shiro when Keith was talking to the Paladins and she could recognize his voice, so she could assume that he was Shiro.

She was so far into her thoughts that she didn't realize that Keith had stopped walking, as she proceeded to run right into his back. With an "Oof!", she stops and rubs her nose, Keith turning and smirking. "Careful kid. You seem like you have a lot on your mind right now. What's going on?" The child twiddles her fingers and looks up at him.

"Does...everyone hate me? The two Alteans looked scared, and I dunno why." She looks back down and Keith puts a hand on her shoulder, slowly and gently. She looks back up at him and he smiles.

"They just don't know you well enough, it'll be alright. Speaking of, you never told me your name, did you? Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself."

Her eyes widen and she nods. "I can't believe I forgot, I'm so sorry!"

Keith laughs a little, standing up and turning a bit to take off his suit. "It's okay. Do you mind telling me?"

She nods. "My name is Zamimza, and I'm 7 years old."

Keith sits on the bed after redressing and Zamimza sits next to him. "Zamimza huh? That's a really nice name. I like it. I guess we'll have to introduce you properly to the others, but in the meantime, let's just sit here and you can tell me about yourself. How do you like that?"

Zamimza looks around and fidgets, but then looks up and nods. "I-I might as well, you did save me, but umm...do you think we could find a change of clothes for me soon? This is uncomfortable."

Keith nods, and they sit on his bed while he listens to the child talk about herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Keith suddenly wakes up, he looks down to his chest and saw Zamimza laying on him, shaking softly. He puts a gentle hand on her head and closes his eyes again. "Shh, shh, it's okay Mimzy..." he whispers. The trembling softens to a stop and light snores are heard from her. He closes his eyes again and falls back to sleep.

He then wakes up later to the small child frantically pushing his chest and rocking him. "Keith! Keith!" she whimpers. He looks up at her and smiles, lazily lifting his hand to rub her head.

"Mornin' kid." He slurs tiredly. Her eyes water and she smiles back.

"S-Sorry, I d-didn't feel much breathing when I w-woke up, so I feared the worst." She rubs her eyes with her small hands, laughing softly. "I'm sorry, I worry too much."

Keith smiles and sits up, nodding. "Don't worry about it, I get it. Come on, let's go get some breakfast, see if we can't find some different clothes for you to wear."

Zamimza nods and gets off of the bed, letting him do so as well. She opens the door and walks out, waiting for Keith outside of his room. He leaves his room, closing the door behind him. She takes his hand and they walk out into the castle to grab some food. She could smell something tasty, so she started rushing ahead. Hunk had been bringing food out that he had made and everyone was sitting down. She noticed there was only one other seat for Keith, because Hunk had the other. She looked up at him and whimpers softly.

"I...guess I could wait, that's okay." She starts to walk back towards the room, but Keith scoops her up and carries her to the table. "You can sit, there's no reason you can't sit up on me." She looks up at him and smiles gently. "Okay!"

Allura and Coran just look at her, still mildly befuddled by her markings, but they both take a simultaneous breath and they smile. Allura grins wider. "I'm happy you could join us, little one." Zamimza nods and sits up on Keith's leg, barely reaching the top of the table. She giggles. "I'm happy I could too!" They all began to eat. Zamimza smiles happily, the food delicious beyond anything else she's eaten.

In the middle of eating, Keith pokes her gently and it causes her to jump. "Huh?!" Keith smiles at her and nods. She looks confused if but for a moment, and then she smiles. "Oh okay!"

She clears her throat and sits up straight. "If I could have everyone's attention!"

As soon as she had the Paladins, Allura, and Coran looking at her, she nods.

"My name is Zamimza, and I'm 7 years old. My Mo-I mean, my mother, is Haggar. I don't know my father, but I know he's Galra, as you can see. I'm um, part Altean, which you probably were so reactive about, you two-" She gestures politely at Allura and Coran, who both darken in the face, but she smiles at them,"-which I understand, it's a lot to take in. I, uh, really like it here, but I'm sorry if my sudden stay causes issues." She sits back down normally and looks at everyone, her face darkening as well. Lance kicks back and smiles.

"Well I'm Lance, the one all the ladies fall for-ugh!" Pidge elbows him, and he coughs. "Oww...I-I'm the Blue Paladin, the one with a lot of confidence and support. The one that abused me just now-"

"-Has a name. I'm Pidge" She smirks. "I'm the resident mechanic and techie, and I know a thing or two about how to tinker with things. So I'm the Green Paladin."

Hunk trots over with more food and takes a seat. "Phew! I'm Hunk, the Yellow Paladin and the one everyone relies on for a good smile and delicious food."

Keith laughs. "Red Paladin, but you knew that already."

Shiro waves his hand. "And I'm the Black Paladin, Shiro. The proclaimed 'leader' of the group."

Zamimza smiles and nods. "Thank you. And you two?" She looks at the two Alteans.

Allura coughs and nods. "I'm Princess Allura of Altea, the last of the line and the 'pilot' of the Castle. I'm very sorry I seemed rude to you when I first saw you, I was just taken aback by your markings."

Coran nods. "As am I, we haven't seen another, part-Altean or otherwise. As for me, I am Coran, Princess Allura's advisor and the most handsome Altean." He struck some ridiculous poses, causing the Paladins to laugh a little.

Zamimza smiles happily. She figured she would like it here in the Castle.


	3. Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keith and Mimzy share a moment in the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap I am blown away! Thank you all so much for the kudos and please please comment, I love hearing feedback!!

After a long night of hanging out with the rest of the Paladins, plus Allura and Coran, Keith was leaning back on his bed, Zamimza sleeping soundly, curled up in his lap. He was running a gentle hand through her hair and realized just how rough it was.

_I should brush her hair first thing tomorrow morning, I'm glad I always carry one..._

After a few moments, the gentle caressing stopped and he laid his hand on her head as he slowly drifted of to sleep himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Running, running, running. It was all that was racing through Keith's head as he kept moving.

He had somehow been caught in a Galra ship and was taken prisoner. He knew they would contact his friends, he knew they would try something to make him speak, he knew he would end up damaged just like Shiro.

_You can't run from this, Paladin!_

He turned and was immediately knocked backwards, hitting his head dead on the ground. After a few moments of seeing stars, he looked up and saw Galra standing all around him, whispering about him and sneering. He also realized one last thing.

_He could no longer move._

Oh crap oh crap oh crap, what were they going to do? Tear me up? Shock me to death??

He tried to focus on something but lights started to burn his eyes, he put his hands up to his face and saw them.

His hands were purple.

He was a Galra.

Galra, Galra, Galra, traitor, Galra, all was running through his head. He started to hyperventilate until he passed out, hearing a small voice in all of the darkness.

"-th!!! Keith!!! KEITH!!!" It was screaming.

Keith bolted upright, knocking the kid over. She scrambled back up and crawled to him, hugging him tightly. "Oh I'm so glad so glad so glad..." She was audibly crying into his shoulder. He placed one arm around her and the other went towards his face, taking a look.

Flesh.

He was human, as always.

He breathed a shaky sigh and hugged her. "It's okay, Mimzy, I'm here, I'm okay now." He just held her and pets her hair softly, taking deep breaths. She realized her breathing was off so she decided to breath in the same pattern as him; in 4, out 5. They both calmed down and released the hug. Zamimza looks up at him and places a small finger on his cheek, in a particular manner, tracing a streak.

"You were crying, Keith." She whispers, her eyes filled with a slight curiosity at this occurrence. He blinks and touches his cheek, and sure enough, when he looked at his fingers, there was a dampness.

"Sorry, I normally don't..." He starts to look angry at himself because why wouldn't he, he just cried in front of a child, she was seeking him weak and he was so not happy. However, it changed ever so drastically as soon as she started to laugh.

"Mister Keith has feelings!" She smiled happily, her face still more damp than his. He laughed just a bit and ruffles her hair.

"Yeah yeah, just don't go telling everyone, this is between us, okay?"

"Okay!" He held up his hand and she looked at it, puzzled. Keith's eyes were wide in shock because _oh my quiznak she doesn't know what a high five is._ He blinks the surprise away and smiles. "It's called a high five. We clap our hands together-" He took her wrist gently and tapped her hand onto his. "-like that, to show that we're in agreement with something or just happy, okay?"

She blinks and looks at him with an intense passion. He taught her something she never learned from Momma and she was so happy that he of all of them did so. So she grinned wildly and looked at the still-up hand of Keith's and smacked it with her palm as hard as she could. She laughs as soon as Keith stopped and reeled back, grasping his wrist.

"Owwww...." He groaned, a bit of a chuckle buried beneath it. Zamimza swishes her tail and looked at his hand, which had gotten a small, deep red hand print the size of her own palm. She snorted and then burst out laughing.

After a while of their laughing fit, Keith looked at Zamimza and smiled. "Oh yeah, I wanted to do something this morning after realizing something last night."

Zamimza was going to ask about it, but she kept quiet and stood up so he could get up since he seemed like he wanted to. He stood and went to a shelf, picking up some sort of bristled object. Zamimza was initially scared of the object, but Keith scraped it over his hand and showed her. His hand was perfectly fine, so she loosened up.

"I'm going to brush your hair. I felt your hair last night and it didn't feel, you know, healthy." Zamimza tilted her head barely enough to be visible. He noticed however and frowns. "What did they do to you...?" He whispers. He shakes his head and smiles. "It means it doesn't look like you're doing okay, so I'm going to fix that."

He sits on his bed and motions for her to sit in front of him. She crawls over and off of the bed, onto the floor. She lifts herself onto her knees and nods. Keith smiles and puts a kind hand on her head. "Ready?"

She nods enthusiastically.

Keith runs his hand over in front of her face, collecting every single bit of her hair to the back of her head. He then slowly brings the brush to the front and pulling it back softly. Since she's had such a rough time on the Galra ship with her "family", it hit a lot of knots and she whimpers softly every time, Keith responding with a soft "Sorry, I'm trying to be gentle to get these out." Zamimza then sighs when the brush started to go through without any problems.

Keith puts the brush down and runs his hands through it. "Finally. Wow..." He just holds his hands there. "Your hair is really soft..." A small snore could be heard from the floor, and he looks over her head to see her face. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing calmly, having fallen asleep while her hair was being brushed. Keith chuckles and hoists her up carefully so she doesn't wake up, laying her on the bed. He smiles and leaves the room, heading down to the training deck like he would any normal morning.


	4. Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the team decides.
> 
> And possible Klance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M GONNA WRITE 2 CHAPTERS BECAUSE I UPDATED A DAY LATE WHOOPS
> 
> ENJOY

Keith walked out into the dining hall where everyone was sitting and eating whatever Hunk and Coran had cooked up. He takes a plate and started to walk back, but Allura called to him.

"Keith! Would you mind sitting here with us for a while?" She says, a slight waver in her voice.

He turns to her, looking slightly confused, but he shrugs and turns around to sit down with them. They all looked back at him while he ate. He could feel their eyes boring holes into his head and he looked at them, stopping his eating.

"Why is everyone staring at me?" He retorts, annoyed.

Hunk and Pidge shift a little, glancing away. The only people looking at him directly are Shiro, Allura, and Coran. Allura clears her throat and begins to speak, but Shiro puts a hand on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. Shiro looks at Keith thoughtfully and empathetically.

"We needed to talk to you about the girl." He finally says.

Keith stops looking at him and he fidgeted with his gloves. "What about Mimzy? She hasn't done anything wrong, has she?"

Shiro shakes his head. "No, she's fine, she's done nothing wrong. But we do need to decide what to do with her, you know?" He gets up from the chair and walks over to Keith, placing a firm hand on his shoulder. "We know that you care about her, and why, but-"

Keith turns at him and glares. "But what? She's a threat? She could potentially lead us to doom? Because she's _Galra_?" Fire lurks dangerously behind his eyes. "Go on. Say it."

Shiro looks over to Allura, who clears her throat again. "We just think it would be for the best of all of us if we gave her to somebody on another planet to take care of. Like Reyner or Shay."

Hunk speaks up. "Maybe Reyner moreso, Shay might be...a bit iffy on taking care of a Galra..."

Allura nods and continues. "With the amount of quintessence she can hold due to her being Galra and Altean, it'll be easy to track her."

Pidge looks at Keith, seeing something in his eyes. Is it...hurt? Sadness maybe? He's not showing it directly but wow, he radiates sadness right now. Pidge sits up. "Hey Keith? What's Zamimza doing right now?"

Keith looks down. "I left her to get some sleep, but by now she might be waking up, why?"

Pidge takes a breath. "Can I go check on her, see if she's okay?"

Keith nods, nearly invisible.

She hops out of the seat and heads down to Keith's room. She has a theory, but she's going to need Zamimza awake for it.

Lance hasn't been looking at anything but the food or the ceiling, afraid to look anyone in the eye, especially Keith. He's afraid of the emotion hes going to see and the emotion that's going to pour out of him.

Keith looks at Lance, hoping and begging in his head that _please let Lance at least let me keep Mimzy here, she needs me and I need her_. Keith tries his best to hold his emotions in as Allura and Shiro ramble on what could go wrong and the meaning of a team.

He can't do it. He keeps thinking about the broken and defeated expression of the small child as soon as they leave her on a planet that shes never been on before, the betrayal of "how could you leave me, Keith?", he can't handle it.

He puts his head down and his shoulders start to shake.

Lance hears it and turns around.

Keith. Is. Crying.

Every single alarm bell rings in Lance's head like _oh crap oh crap oh crap he is not letting Keith cry he is going to defend the small one (no, the smaller one) if it kills him_.

Lance's smooth, cocky, egotistic nature flies right out the door and he stands.

"Tell me Allura, before Zarkon was power-hungry, what did you think of the Galra? Surely you had positive thoughts, one of them was a Paladin."

Everyone was taken aback at his sudden shift in attitude. Including Keith, who lifted his head despite himself, letting his tears fall more. Lance was protecting Mimzy.

Allura looked down and nodded. "The Galra were friends at one time, yes."

Lance's glare deepened. "And how many children came to you, flocked even, for something?"

Allura smiles a little. "All the time. The children loved stories that I could tell, funny ones about me and my father or of the kinds of things Coran would do." Allura's head snapped up and she looks at Keith, his hurt, tear-streaked face all the evidence she needs.

Lance walks over to Keith, his hand on his other shoulder. "Keith is you in this situation. Zamimza is those children. The only difference is that this child was trapped and treated terribly. We saved her, but Keith got her out, he's attached and feels he has a strong duty to protect her now. You know what that means Allura?"

Allura just looks at them, shaking her head.

Lance grins. "Mullet is Zamimza's brother now. He has to take care of her, it's his job now and he cares about her a lot. Family is a strong bond, you should understand that, Princess, because I sure do."

Shiro and Allura look at each other, slightly awestruck. Shiro moves back to his seat, allowing Keith to stand, again, despite himself, turn around and hug Lance tightly, still crying. Lance is taken back at first, but softens and hugs him back. "Family is family, I understand that. And now you do too, Keith."

Pidge comes back in, Mimzy trailing behind, both have big smiles. Mimzy's drops as she rushes to Keith. "Why are you crying? What's wrong?"

Keith and Lance break the hug and Keith picks Mimzy up, sniffling. "Nothing kid, everything's okay."

Mimzy hugs him and Keith looks at Lance, who has a big, goofy grin on his face. Keith returns it with a small smile, something fluttering in his chest.

Lance and the two "siblings" head back into their rooms.

Hunk just looks around. "What happened?"

Pidge shrugs. "Not sure, but I have something I want to test later."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keith, Mimzy and Lance are all in Keith's room that night, talking and chatting. Mimzy had started to lean on Keith, slowly sinking down to lay on his leg. As soon as he started to pet her, she began to make a rumbling noise and promptly fell asleep.

Lance looks at them, as they now have to speak in small whispers. "She sounds like a cat you know."

Keith nods. "The Galra mostly look pretty cat-like, it only makes sense that they purr."

Lance nods and just stares at Keith, who is looking down at Mimzy, serenity and caring washing over his face.

 _Cute_.

Lance blinks and his face turns tomato red. Did he just...think Keith was cute? No, he couldn't, Keith hated his guts. But then again, why would he invite him to his room?

The smile on Keith's face fades and he looks away. "Um, Lance? Can I ask you a question?"

He smiles. "Well you technically already did, but you may ask a second."

Keith snorts a bit and shakes his head. "You're around people so much, and I've lived alone in a desert for most of my life. So there are certain things I don't understand and I wanna ask your opinion."

Lance looks concerned. The softness in his voice makes him sound very confused and he worried. "Sure, go ahead, what do you need help with?"

Keith fidgets a bit with Mimzy's hair. "I...felt something earlier. Seeing your dumb, huge smile, watching and listening to you protect Mimzy, it gave me a weird feeling in my stomach and I thought my heart was gonna jump out of my chest. What...does that mean?"

Lance starts to blush furiously. "It, um-it me-it means that, um..." Lance takes a breath. In a serious-ish tone, which is pretty difficult when whispering, Lance explains.

"That means you're falling for the person, like in love."

Keith's heart skips and now he's blushing, goshdarnit why is he so _cute_ , Lance thinks. "S-So...huh.. I guess that explains it. What about-?" Before he could say anything, Lance kisses Keith's forehead, both boys blushing so furiously that the room starts to feel like a sauna.

"Yeah, I'm in love with you too, Mullet."

Both boys laugh a bit, and in the shadow of her hair, Mimzy grins brightly.


	5. Experiment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Pidge tests something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HERE'S THE SECOND AS PROMISED IM SORRY I FELL ASLEEP WRITING THE LAST CHAPTER HAH
> 
> im a mess
> 
> here yall go

"HEY!"

A shout pierces the castle and rattles a hugely distracted Coran to his bones. He turns to the green Paladin, standing mere inches from his ears.

"Number 5, I am right here, there is no need to yell so loud. What do you need anywho?" He stands straight and looks at her.

Pidge bounces up and down in place, smiling. "Do you have a quintessence tracker? It's very important, I want to test something out."

Coran raises an eyebrow and slowly starts to twiddle with his mustache. "Maybe, but it's very old, if you know how to tinker with the parts, you might be able to fix it."

He looks down at her, her eyes glittering in anticipation. He sighs and points to a door. "It and the parts are in there, if you need help carrying the stuff-"

Pidge shakes her head and dashes towards the door, closing it behind herself. She apparently is just going to stay in the closet, Coran thinks.

He shrugs and goes back to being distracted.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Pidge is sitting in a chair with the tracker that she fixed up to brand new.

_"Wow, it hasn't looked that functional since Allura was a tiny tot!" Coran said. He looked over the machine multiple times and looked at Pidge, who had the hugest grin on her face._

Pidge was fiddling with the settings, Zamimza sitting in front of her, Keith standing across the room. He insisted on staying while they did this so he could keep an eye on her. Lance decided to stay in his room, because while he would want to stay with his newfound love, he needed his beauty sleep and Keith understood that.

Zamimza twiddled her thumbs, her tail brushing the ground gently.

"Aaaand...done." She smiles. "Okay, now time to test this out. Do you know how to do this?"

Zamimza nods. She puts her hands together and concentrates on her breathing. The tracker starts beeping, a sign of quintessence nearby. Zamimza starts to concentrate on her magic, her fur bristling and sparking with a bright blue/dark blue mixture. She pushes her hands out in front of her, a magical bubble spreading quite a bit before vanishing. She takes a deep breath and coughs. "Ouch..." She waves her tail and sighs. "Darn..."

Pidge smiles. "Hey, it's alright, you aren't too experienced yet but we can possibly get Allura to help." She turns the tracker towards her. "But look! You lowered the readings significantly just by that stealth bubble! Good job!"

Zamimza looks at her and her eyes well up, tears falling freely. "Proud...?"

Pidge looks at her softly and smiles, gently scratching her head. "Proud."

Keith comes over and picks her up. "We should probably go eat something. Isn't that right, Mimzy?" She grins and nods happily, as Keith wipes her face softly, cleaning her off. He had no idea that pride wasn't something she knew people could feel about her, but he was at least happy she knew what pride was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Again!"

Bubble, growing, pop.

"Again!"

Bubble, growing, pop.

"Again! Again!"

Keith put his hands up. "Alright, alright! She's just a child, let her rest a little."

Allura looks at him. "That is exactly how I was with you Paladins and look how you grew. You are defenders of the universe, and if you plan on keeping her here, she needs to learn how to block the tracking of quintessence like she knows how."

Mimzy tugs at Keith's arm and smiles up at him. "Don't worry, big brother, I'm doing great! I'll be able to help the way I can."

 _Big brother_.

That phrase made his heart jump. He's only been alone and having a younger sibling is new, but he's alright with this. He knows it's okay. He knows he likes being her older brother.

He smiles down at her. "Right, right. If you're sure you don't need a break, then you can keep on going. I'll be right here if you do."

She nods and he walks back a little. He nearly trips backwards when he's caught by something wrapping their arms around him. He looks up and smiles.

Lance.

He smiles back and pushes him back to his feet. "You okay there, Mullet?"

He huffs and looks away. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Lance kisses his head, invoking a bright blush on his face. "How's Zamimza doing?"

Keith shrugs and smiles. "She's pushing herself because she wants to be as helpful as she can, but she's doing great. It's the most I've seen her happy." Keith look solemn and looks down a bit. "It's also the most she's cried, but not out of upset or sadness. She's just overwhelmed by all the praise and kindness."

Lance takes Keith's hand and entangles his fingers into his own. "She can thank her big brother for this opportunity, you know."

Keith nods and looks away. "Yeah, I'm happy she's doing alright."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After hours of toil and exhaustion, Zamimza was finally able to make a large enough bubble to hide all the quintessence of the castle. As soon as Pidge confirmed it, everyone was excited. Zamimza slowly eased herself out of the bubble and everyone gathered around her. Keith gave her a hug, with Lance and Hunk joining in (not to mention the fact that she felt like she would burst at the seams from the force), Pidge giving her a gentler hug after those three broke away from her, Allura giving her a pet on her head, Shiro doing the same, and Coran applauding her.

After everyone was done, Zamimza stared at everyone, looking at her with kind smiles. She tries her best to hold, but she collapsed to her knees. She held her hands to her face and starts to shake.

She was sobbing hard.

Everyone got concerned and advanced towards her, Zamimza looked up and uncovered her face, smiling. She sniffles many times and shakes her head.

"I-I'm okay, I promise....Just s-so happy, is all"

This was met by more smiles, and Zamimza cries more.

Her family held so much kindness towards her.

_Her family..._


	6. Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keith realizes the extent of her knowledge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaah I'm so sorry I didn't update Friday! I was working on some things for my friends and didn't get a chance to type at all ;^;
> 
> That doesn't mean I wouldnt update, it's just a couple days late, haha....
> 
> Anyway, and as always, I hope you enjoy this chapter, kudos and comments are more than appreciated!

_What's a family?_

Mimzy had asked Keith this question after Pidge's experiment with her. He had no idea that the small Galra had so many questions. He was going to be sure to answer every single one, no matter how ridiculous it may be.

He had no idea how much she was missing.

They were both in his room, Mimzy walking around for no particular reason, Keith getting dressed to leave their room.

"What's a family?" Mimzy had asked.

Keith looked at her in shock, as her face read genuine confusion at the word.

"A family? Why do you ask?" He had carefully asked back.

Mimzy looks down, messing with her claws. "Pidge always says it when she talks to Shiro, that she needs to find it, but I'm not sure what it is."

Keith's heart practically breaks in half. She had no idea what a family was. Even though she knew her mom. Even though she knew them. He was flabbergasted.

_Quiznak, I'm not good with this kind of thing..._

Keith takes a deep breath and stops what he was doing, patting the spot on the bed beside him. She nods and jumps up into the bed, looking at him.

"A family huh...Normally, they're the people that raised you, are related to you, and stuff like that. For example, your mother would be family." He looks at her, and her ears droop.

"I don't like that normal family. What else can it be?"

He nods and smiles softly. "A family can also be the people who have protected you, kept you safe and sound, and...and loved you."

He sees her head tilt to the side. "Love?"

What was that sound? Oh yeah, Keith's heart _shattering more._

"Love is...a feeling that makes your heart flutter. Something calming, but exciting at the same time. A peaceful, gentle happiness." He starts to get misty eyes and smiles more.

"Like you and Lance?"

"Like me and Lance."

She sticks her tongue out. "Bleh, love is icky."

He laughs a bit and ruffles her hair. "Sometimes it is, but familial love is a little bit different."

She nods and laughs too. "So, what is a big brother then? I know I called you that, but I heard Pidge say that about someone named Matt, and I figured it was the family she was missing."

Keith nods. "Yeah, Matt is her big brother. Which means a boy who is older than you and is there to help and protect you."

She smiles. "I said it right then, good."

He sighs and nods smiling.

She looks down and blinks, her face solemn. "I'm not sure why I'm missing these. Was my mom really that bad?"

Keith looks at her and pulls her in for a hug. She whimpers and hugs him back, whimpering, as his shoulder becomes more and more damp with her tears.

"I'm s-sorry...I'm so sorry if I made you save me..."

He shakes his head. "You didn't have to make me do anything. I wanted to save you."

She starts to cry more and hugs him tighter.


	7. Changes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which certain things start to happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SHIT
> 
> I AM SO SORRY IT'S BEEN SO LONG THAT I'VE UPDATED
> 
> Honestly the past few weeks have been hectic and stressful. I tasked myself with making some stuffed animals for some friends that I'll be going to college with, setting up for college has been stressing me out, school has been stressing me out, I've just been relatively miserable. Besides all that, I've also had a major lack of inspiration for chapters.
> 
> BUT SPRING BREAK IS HERE NOW SO ILL HOPEFULLY BE ABLE TO POST MORE CHAPTERS
> 
> I hope you guys are still enjoying and feel free to send me feedback and maybe chapter ideas! I always appreciate it!

The mission was starting off smoothly. The Lions were up against a larger battleship than what they were used to, but it was nothing they couldn't handle. Keith was doing his best up against it and everyone was putting in every effort to defeat the Galra. Even Mimzy was doing her part by removing traces of quintessence from the castle.

It was starting off smoothly. And then it wasn't.

Lance, Hunk, and Pidge were alternating blasts and Keith was too. However, a separate ship went after Red and he turns the Lion towards it. One smaller ship turns into multiple, and he was handling it himself.

While he was doing this, the Druids were gathering their energy for their big blast towards Red.

The other Paladins weren't fast enough.

_FWOOOOM!!!_

A loud scream echoed through the helmet comms, shaking everyone to the core. Mimzy pales and watches Red plummet away, her vision blurring.

Keith and Red were blasted towards the castle, which immediately brought them into the hangar. Mimzy, while still focusing on blocking quintessence, rushes into the hangar. She sees Red, laying down, no glow coming from her. She pats her chin, the closest part she can get to being so small.

"You did good, girl. Could you allow me to come inside, please?" She soothes. While Red seemed to be out of commission, she managed to open her jaw ever so slightly, just enough for her to come in. She smiles and climbs up to the cockpit. What she saw made her heart drop.

Keith was hunched forward, breathing shallow. His body was softly glowing from the blast of quintessence but the glow faded as fast as she could see. She rushes immediately to him, her tail lashing.

"Big brother..! I'll get you out of here, let's go." She puts on a stern, concerned face and goes over to him. She gently grabs him and lifts him, her tail lashing. She is shocked to realize she can carry him no problem, which makes her job easier. She folds her ears back and carries him out.

She takes him to the cryopods to heal and looks at him, her eyes filling with tears. "Big brother Keith..." She sits down in front of his pod and rests her chin in her hands.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mimzy wakes with a start. _When did I end up sleeping?_ She thinks. Her eyes adjust to the light in the room, but before she could get a good handle, a hiss appeared from behind her. She jerks herself up to face the pod as it opens, Keith falling onto her. She grabs him immediately and takes a deep breath, holding him and slowly lowering him down to lay down in front of it. She glances over him, her tail lashing. "You look okay...I'll go get Allura." She goes to get up but then she notices some spots on his hand. She slowly kneels back down and grabs it, looking closely. She runs a claw over it, and it felt...soft? Softer than the rest of him for sure. Almost feels like...fur. How strange.

She shakes her head and rushes off to the front of the Castle. "Allura! Allura!" She trips slightly and laughs but rushes over more. "Keith is out of the pod and he looks fine! Is that good?"

Allura tilts her head and looks at Coran, who shrugs. She smiles at Zamimza and nods. "That is good. I'll come on over once we finish this. We intercepted a signal about some coordinates and we'll need all of the Paladins. You should go tell Lance, he should be excited to see him." She gives a sly smile to Zamimza and she smiles back. "Okay!"

Zamimza rushes to Lance's room and knocks gently. "Lance? Lance! Come on, big bro is awake!" She heard a bunch of clattering and some muffled swears that allowed a giggle to escape from her. Then the door slid open  and the tall boy looks at her. "Mimzy! You say Keith is out? Where is he?" She smiles. "I left him in the pod room so I could come get you guys! He should be up and about now, come on!" She grabs his hand and they rush in the direction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keith opened his eyes and immediately felt a little chill. He sat up slowly and realized he was in the pod room, his armor at the other side of the room. He scratches his head and started to hear small pitter-pattering, as he assumed was Mimzy running around the castle because he was out. He pulls his hand from his head and sees it, the spots. He looks puzzled but then remembers what happened. He suddenly feels a strong amount of fear and decides to touch the spots.

That is soft.

That is fur.

_Oh quiznak..._

He looked and realized the spots were spreading, solidifying in certain parts like all on his hands. He decided he would hide and started to take deep breaths.

_Alright, you know what this is, you know what this means, you know what caused it. You know what might happen, and everyone already knows about this. But this is scary. It's actually becoming visible. Quiznaking quiznak..._

He then realized that sharp pains were already proving themselves through his body, so he quickly put his hands on his mouth so he didn't yell and scare anyone. He heard the door slide open and Lance and Mimzy laughing. _Oh god, oh quiznaking god..._ He whimpers gently and his ears started ringing loudly. Because he was holding in a shout, he started shaking and his eyes started watering from the pain. Once the ringing went, he realized he could move his ears and he knew what that meant.

Because Mimzy can do the same with her ears.

He looks to his side and realized they were looking for him. He noticed Mimzy twitch her ear and she looked towards his direction. "Over here!" She whispered. She rushes closer and she gasps, seeing his ears and she kneels down. "But how..?" When Lance comes over, seeing his face, he kneels down immediately and holds Keith. "He's part Galra, like you...whatever happened out there did this to him..." Lance was stroking Keith's hair and holding him close while he continued to change. Mimzy just took a breath and knelt down as well, hugging him too.

After a long while, it looked like Keith was all done changing. His ears were folded back, he had a tail that was lashing, and his fur was recognizably darker than Mimzy's The both of them were just hugging and calming Keith, who, after the change, had fallen asleep. Mimzy scooted back so Lance could get up and carry him to his room. She followed, her tail drooping a little.

"Is...he okay?" She asks softly.

Lance smiles and nods. "He sounds like he's sleeping calmly, but let's stick with him until he wakes up, okay?"

"Okay." She nods.

When they got to Keith's room, Lance laid him down and tucked him in. Mimzy crawled onto the bed while Lance sits on it, next to him.

Mimzy looks at Keith. "I always...wondered why he wanted to help me. Guess it's because he felt like we were connected because we're hybrids?"

Lance shrugs and smiles. "He got reckless, but I'm happy he's at least okay. Hey, Mimz?"

She looks at him. "Yeah?"

"Should we wait to tell the others until he wakes up?"

Mimzy nods. "I'm sure he would want to say something himself."

Lance nods. "Alright. Well, guess we have to wait, huh?"

She nods and they both lay down.

After a while, even though neither of them felt particularly tired, they had both fallen asleep.


	8. Update

Wow, I started writing this so long ago...

Anyway, some of you may have noticed a lack of updates for a really long time. And there's a reason: I started college! It's crazy, having gotten this far. And now i finally have time to tell you guys what you probably figured was inevitable.

I'm not continuing this story. Time, motivation, the usual. I've moved on from writing this story. I loved what I started with but I don't see this continuing. If I still was motivated I would write! But I don't feel it.

If you would like however, I'm starting a new story this weekend, and I would be delighted if you would check it out!

Thank you everyone, I love all of you <3


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